In cane harvesters, feed rollers are used to convey the servered cane stalks from the basecutters to the chopper drums. Because of the severe operating conditions under which the rollers are operated, replacement of the wear elements on the rollers which grip and convey the cane stalk as well as the replacement of bearings used in the feed roller is frequently necessary.
Heretofore, feed rollers were removed from the frame sections in which they were mounted by removing the rollers in a direction generally parallel to the longitudinal axis of the rollers themselves. This required the removal of the bearings from the shaft of the feed roller which was often very difficult because of shaft deterioration caused by sugar juice and fibrous material wrapping itself around the feed roller shaft. Frequently, the shaft bearings would simply be destroyed in order to more easily remove the feed roller shaft. This was clearly unsatisfactory.
Topper assemblies are used in cane harvesters to sever the top or non-sugar portions of the cane crop so that the leaves will not enter the intake area of the harvester thus causing a reduction in harvester capacity and contamination of the cane billets.
Recently, with the inherent advantages resulting in an increased use of green cane harvesting, existing toppers have been unsatisfactory in some applications. These problems have included the inability to totally sever the tops of the cane and the fouling of the topper assembly by leafy material. This severing problem was particularly acute with certain new varieties of cane, that, although having increased sugar content, have also had increased fibre content as well. The increased fibre content exacerbates topper cutting problems and makes the clean cutting of tops more critical than topping cane with lower fibre content.
In row cutting machines, that is, machines which have the capabilities of cutting adjacent rows of cane in either direction, the tops gathered into the topper assembly must be disposed of on either side of the harvester away from the adjacent row of cane to be cut. Heretofore, a mechanical gate was used which, by appropriate controls, could direct the cane to either side of the topper assembly thereby to be appropriately dispersed. In conjunction with this topper assembly, multiple blades were used to sever the cane tops. All of this machinery and the mechanical controls were not necessary.
Track adjusters for the track assemblies on crawler type vehicles such as tractors, cane harvesters and the like are known. These known devices generally utilize a spring which, as the track comes under increased tension due to an obstruction, for example, being lodged in the track, becomes compressed and applies increased force on the track. When the obstruction is dislodged from the track assembly, the spring returns the track to its original position in which it is then subject to its normal tension force. The use of such springs, however, is disadvantageous due to the shock experienced by the track from the spring force when the obstruction in the track is dislodged.
Hydraulic track adjusters are also known. These adjusters utilize a hydraulic fluid circuit on both sides of the cylinder. The pressure is regulated by an accumulator or other pressure regulating device to keep the track in its tightened position. Such devices, however, while working well to maintain the track at its desired operating force level still require a track positioner to position the track in its optimum operating condition.